The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added 1.85 million net members in August 2024, up around 9 per cent compared to the same month a year ago. The August figure was down around 7 per cent from the previous month, when it was around 1.99 million.
In August 2023, the net additions were nearly 1.70 million.
The data shows a 0.48 per cent increase to around 0.93 million (9.30 lakh) in new enrollments in August 2024 over the past year, the Labour Ministry said in a statement.
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Age-Group Wise: Notably, youngsters between 18 and 25 contributed most to the new additions. This age group constituted around 59.26 per cent of the total new additions in EPFO in August, reflecting that people joining the workforce in the organised sector are mostly youngsters. Including the new enrollments in August, the total number of workers of this age group in the net payroll has reached 0.806 million (8.06 lakh).
Female Members: There has been an increase of 10.41 per cent in the number of female workers who joined the workforce. The net 3.79 lakh female workers joined the workforce in August 2024. Of the total new additions of 0.93 million, there were 0.253 million (2.53 lakh) new female members in August.
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Exited And Rejoined: EPF is only for organised workers. Every month, old members retire, and new members join. But people who leave one organisation and join another are also part of the total net additions if they do not withdraw their EPF and get it transferred to the new organisation. In August, the number of members who exited and rejoined the workforce increased to 1.35 million (13.54 lakh), showing around 14 per cent growth compared to the same period in 2023.
Industry-Wise Enrolment: Industries such as trading in commercial establishments, engineering contractors, building and construction industry, agriculture farms, beedi making, etc., remained the top ones witnessing growth in the number of EPFO members. Services like manpower suppliers, expert services, security services, normal contractors, miscellaneous activities, etc., contributed around 40 per cent in the net additions of EPFO members.
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Geographic Data: Area-wise, the 1.097 million (10.97 lakh) members were from the top five states and union territories (UTs). Maharashtra tops the list by adding 20.59 per cent of the net members. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh have each added more than 5 per cent of the net members in August 2024.
EPFO is one of the largest organisations in terms of clientele and administers the provident funds, pension, and insurance schemes for its members. As per its annual report 2022-23, it maintains around 29.88 crore accounts of its members.
